Deon Thomas was released from jail Monday after prosecutors dismissed a charge of second-degree murder while armed in connection to the Dec. 8, 2013 stabbing death of John Thomas Tillman.
“The case was dismissed without prejudice because there was insufficient evidence to go forward at this time. The investigation is continuing,” explained spokesperson William Miller via email on behalf of the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
On Dec. 8, 2013, police found 63-year-old Tillman with a stab wound to his right neck at the intersection of North Capitol Street and Florida Avenue Northwest. Tillman was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Thomas, 37, was arrested less than 24 hours after Tillman’s death and held without bond. He is believed to be homeless and suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.
Charging documents in the case state that on the same day, Thomas was sent to a local hospital after emergency personnel responded to a report from a local homeless shelter that someone was “acting irrationally and bleeding from the hands.”
During an interview Thomas told police that he suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and that he had several alcoholic beverages that day.
“I hope I didn’t do nothing stupid tonight, but I don’t know,” Thomas told police according to documents.
Thomas told police he was “fighting a guy that keeps attacking him in his dreams”, according to the documents. When police questioned him about the cuts on his hands, Thomas told officers, “I think I got him. … the guy I fight in my dreams. He got me and I got him.”
During the interview, Thomas told officers he thought that he was dreaming when a man walked up to him at the CVS store on U Street and said, “I got you.”
Thomas said that he tried to run, but the man prevented him from running.
According to the documents, Thomas said that the man tried to grab his shoulder, but Thomas was able to hit the man in the side. Thomas started running and hitting the man in the side, while the other man laughed, Thomas told police.
An eye witness was also interviewed by police who described someone striking Tillman in the head after an unknown person yelled, “Hey.” The witness states that Tillman fell to the ground and the person who hit him ran east-bound on Q Street NW.
At the hospital, a three inch folding knife with fresh blood on it fell out of Thomas’s pocket, documents say.
When police asked him if he had taken out his knife “to get the man off him”, Thomas said, “I probably did, I don’t remember.”
